Page 5 - MidWeek Kauai - Dec 29, 2021

Committed To Delivering High-quality Health Care
“What I always tell our leadership team and our as- sociates is that we need to recognize the hard work that our community did to get this hospital here and, as a result, we have a responsibility and a commitment to deliver back really high-quality, safe patient care to our communi- ty,” says Ashlock.
(From left) Jeanette Swanson, Kimalar Carroll, Ryan Ashlock, Donna Schmidt, Derek Dickard and Heidar Thordarson smile for a photo at the blessing of Adventist Health Castle’s Pearl City urgent care, located at 1245 Kuala St.
Award-winning Care
ment you leave, I think you really notice that our people set us apart. We’re focused on whole person health and committed to having the most highly trained, empa- thetic staff shining through at every level of our organi- zation.”
Prior to joining Castle, Ashlock was the finance officer at Adventist Health Feather River and the ex- ecutive in charge during the Camp Fire evacuation, restoration and recovery ef- forts in 2018. He moved to Hawai‘i three years ago and was chief operating officer before being named pres- ident of Adventist Health Castle in April.
we are a few years later (along with their 3-year- old daughter Emmy) and couldn’t be happier. We’ve really enjoyed living in Ha- wai‘i.
integrated network and the purpose of a clinically inte- grated network is to bring together health care provid- ers into a partnership that’s focused on driving down the total cost of care and in- creasing quality.
“There are other clinically integrated networks that ex- ist ... ours is unique, though, in a way in which we’re part- nering with independent physicians versus employ- ing all of our physicians ... a high number of physicians in the state of Hawai‘i want to remain independent and as part of the clinically inte- grated network and Hawai‘i Health Network. We really want to be able to support those independent physi- cians, make them successful and help them focus on pro- viding patient care, which is what they really went to medical school for.
“We’re just thrilled to be able to partner with some of these other independent physician organizations across the state to help them better serve their patients and together really improve the quality of the community that we serve.”
This past spring, Adven- tist Health Castle received an ‘A’ Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, and for the ninth consecutive year, was recognized by Health- grades for being in the top 10% nationally for patient experience. There’s also its birth center, which, for two years in a row, was listed on Newsweek’s Best Maternity Hospitals. And in 2017, the organization was recog- nized with the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
One Paradise To Another
“The joke I kind of al- ways make is, being at oth- er hospitals within our sys- tem, I’ d always see Castle being at the top in terms of metrics and outcomes, and somehow we could never beat Castle. So, if you can’t beat them, you might as well join them and that’s what I decided to do.”
DECEMBER 29, 2021
KAUA‘I MIDWEEK 5
FROM PAGE 4
a full-service medical cen- ter offering a wide range of inpatient, outpatient and home-based services, opened on Jan. 16, 1963, as Castle Memorial Hospital with 72 beds and 14 bassi- nets. However, the ground- work began much earlier when a small community group came together and launched a campaign in 1953 to establish a medical center in Windward O‘ahu. According to Ashlock, there was no health care on the Windward side in the 1950s, only part-time ambulance service from 1 to 9 p.m. Fri- day through Tuesday.
“It was a smaller com- munity certainly at that time but driving over the old Pali Highway as I un- derstand it was quite the drive and not an easy one,” he says. “Whenever there was a medical issue that came up, there were many times where physicians that lived on this side of the is- land had to throw them into their car and take them over to Queen’s or St. Francis.
Because of that, the commu- nity that was growing really wanted to ensure there was access to healthcare easily and quickly.
“(During that time) there were two events that hap- pened — one was the roof caved in on five workmen at the Cornet building in Kailua and they had to then be taken via Dr. Robert Chung’s car ... then just a month later, there was a 2-year-old girl that choked on a pill, and if there had been a hospital here, she may have survived. So, at that point really, enough was enough, and in Decem- ber 1959, the state Board of Health approved the rezon- ing, and federal funds nec- essary to build the hospital were freed up.”
Ashlock lists Chung and Carolyn Rankin as the med- ical center’s major propo- nents, and notes the support received from Harold K.L. Castle, who donated the 10 acres of land that Adventist Health Castle sits on today; the Seventh-day Adven-
tist Church, which offered $600,000 toward construc- tion; and community con- tributions of $170,000. In 1983, the hospital changed its name to Castle Medical Center, and today, Adven- tist Health Castle is a 160- bed facility with more than 1,000 employees.
Patients of Adventist Health Castle can expect state-of-the-art facilities and well-rounded care. PHOTOS COURTESY ADVENTIST HEALTH CASTLE
“One of the things that really makes our organiza- tion unique, I believe, is our people ... from the moment you’ re greeted until the mo-
“Also, the biggest one that’s going on right now is something called Hawai‘i Health Network,” adds Ashlock. “It’s a clinically
“At the time, we were one of only 32 U.S. hospitals to get (the Malcolm Baldrige), and still are the only organi- zation in Hawai‘i to receive this award,” says Ashlock. “We’re really just proud of the achievements we’ ve been able to get.
“The entire town of Par- adise was pretty much de- stroyed in that fire including a good amount of our hospi- tal there ... I was looking for new opportunities and it just so happened that there was an opportunity out here in Hawai‘i and somehow my wife (Elle) was open to the idea,” remembers Ashlock, who was born and raised in Glendale, California. “Here
As for highlights to look forward to in the future at Adventist Health Castle, Ashlock says they plan to expand its operating room capability, adding two op- erating rooms and a proce- dure room next summer on top of its existing four oper- ating rooms. They also are in the early stages of starting a cardiac electrophysiology service, which is currently not provided on the Wind- ward side.